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I do not like the attitude in this forum that WMA is some sort of inferior format. In fact if you take a look at the tests (http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/results.html), notice how unfair they are. Notice the average bitrate - wma is 128 while ogg and mpc are 135. My point is that with wma pro doing much better and Microsoft pushing this format hard and the DM support finding favor with record companies, wma can easily crush the mp3 revolution.

The only way to combat this is to develop OGG to be on equal par with wma (sound quality wise). pretty soon Microsoft will conduct its own tests (obviously biased) that will make them think wma is best. - I am basing the above on some problems with OGG http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=18359AND WHAY ARE WE not discussing problems with WMA on this forum?!!!Are they any problems at all? Sure it might help microsoft a bit but it would show that their format has problems too.

What needs to be done is for fair tests to be made without discrediting wma. Increasing ogg support in hardware players would helpt too. OGG is the only hope for consumers who want to be free from restrictions when ripping their music- and it has to be pushed..

Otherwise we will all be stuck with wma pro ,,,

Just my opinion ... By the way I hate wma simply because of the DRm thing....I'm sure everyone does. And it is ON by default in WMP contrary to what many Microsoft zealots say.

I do not like the attitude in this forum that WMA is some sort of inferior format. In fact if you take a look at the tests (http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/results.html), notice how unfair they are. Notice the average bitrate - wma is 128 while ogg and mpc are 135.

I doubt that 7 kbps make such a big difference.

QUOTE (qualityequalizer @ Mar 1 2005, 07:29 PM)

AND WHAY ARE WE not discussing problems with WMA on this forum?!!!

Why should we? Vorbis is an open source format so changes can be done by everyone, while only Microsoft has access to the WMA code.

QUOTE (qualityequalizer @ Mar 1 2005, 07:29 PM)

What needs to be done is for fair tests to be made without discrediting wma.

What is so unfair in Roberto's test? The 7 kbps more in MPC or Vorbis? Come on... So even if you say that 7 kbps is much, fine, that shows that the encoders were smart enough to assign more bits without having a big impact on the file size.

While WMA may be a fair competitor in the sense of quality, I have to agree with most that it isn't anything special. For lossy music I'll use vorbis over WMA. I think what will eventually kill mp3 off is lossless compression, like FLAC and WavPack. Lossy WMA doesn't stand much of a chance since mp3 is already more compatible with portable device and operating systems. Some portables support WMA, but not all. I think all of them support mp3, I've not seen one that doesn't. But it's really a matter of choice, some people will use a format regardless of it being better or not.

It should be the opposite. WMA is a more complex format, just like AAC, and in the same way AAC drains iPod's battery faster (at the same bitrate) than MP3, so does WMA. I wonder why no portable player exists for MPC, which has so little decoding complexity...

Actually, WMA is very bad to decode, and I have seen many many many pops and artifacts when recordind CDs that I did not hear when listening in the PC. Then I stopped using wma!

"About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering."The source estimated 80 percent of Microsoft employees have a music player -- that translates to 16,000 iPod users among the 25,000 who work at or near Microsoft's corporate campus. "This irks the management team no end," said the source.